Thursday, August 2, 2012

New Evangelization is a Return to the "First Love”

The new evangelization does not consist in proclaiming a new message different from the one that has always existed, nor in merely using new strategies or boisterous methods to attract people. It is in fact a question of returning to the “first love” mentioned to us in the Book of Revelation when the Church of Ephesus is reproached. The new evangelization must be geared to ensuring that the men and women of this secularized society return to living their happiness in the presence and closeness of God's love in their lives. It is a matter of returning to the freshness of the Gospel, of letting themselves be filled with surprise and wonder by the word of Jesus himself, as happened when he began his public life and the people who heard him asked themselves “What is this? A new teaching!”, and were surprised at Jesus' actions (cf. Mk 1:267).
-José Octavio Ruiz Arenas, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization

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